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1960-92 |
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1980-92 |
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1985-92 |
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Number of screens |
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Number of seats ('000) |
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Number of admissions per seat |
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Total number of admissions (millions) |
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Number of admissions per head of population |
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* unweighted average |
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Market share of Top 3 players |
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Market share of Top 4 players |
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Market share of independents responsible for own programming* |
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Average ticket price incl. taxes (ECUs) |
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Average rental as a % of box office net of tax |
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Exhibitor's average share (%) |
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Exhibitor's share of ticket price (ECU) |
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Exhibitor's average share per screen (000 ECUs) |
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Number of screens per 100,000 population |
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Number of seats per screen |
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% large screens |
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% Dolby |
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% multiplexes (7+ screens) |
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US films' market share |
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European films' market share
- of which national films |
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Art-house & experimental: screens as % of all screens (commercial and municipal) |
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Art-house & experimental: share of admissions |
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* weighted average |
As in the majority of European countries, it is difficult to distinguish
in the Netherlands definite differences in exhibitors' programming policy.
Cinema programming is defined, in practice by the distributors.
At the national level, one notes that the number of visits is concentrated
on an increasingly limited number of films: on one hand, the number of
films distributed has decreased rapidly in the course of the past ten years
(500 films per year in the 1950s to only about 200 films per year nowadays),
on the other hand, the proportion of admissions to the 20 leading films
has substantially increased (from 36% in 1980 to 70%).
Cinema programming techniques have consequently changed. The national
programming of cinemas in the Netherlands is characterised by a plan to
release a large number of prints, with simultaneous distribution of the
high potential films in a large number of geographical centres. "Blockbusters"
might be programmed for 20% of the screens in the country at the same time,
spread out throughout the country. The delays in release between the capital
and the rest of the country are limited.
This is a positive point for the whole industry, but it does not lessen
the importance of stating that this aspect of programming strategy makes
it all the more crucial that the independents have speedy access to films
with popular appeal, in order to benefit from the national advertising
which accompanies their release. There is hardly a local market where a
circuit competes with independents. The competition between circuits and
independents occurs at the national level, for example, in relation to
obtaining prints of major releases.
Another phenomenon which appertains to this "American" release model
is that the average duration of exhibition of films is falling, so that
it is nowadays only of the order of two or three months throughout the
whole country.
The art-house and experimental sector in the Netherlands benefits from
a very specific economy.
The art-house and experimental cinemas are divided into three categories:
commercial art-house and experimental theatres; and two categories of municipal
art-house and experimental theatres, A and B. Amongst these cinemas, only
the commercial ones and those falling into category A meet the selection
criteria of the CICAE, and it is those criteria which we have chosen to
define the field of this sector in the statistics given below. It therefore
includes 48 theatres, of which 27 are municipal.
As we will see in the next chapter, the non-commercial art-house and
experimental cinemas are subsidised by local government. They are also
characterised by a particular operating method when it comes to programming.
As for the commercial sector, the practices relating to supply of films
to cinemas are defined by the professional associations. The municipal
cinemas do not have access to films which are exclusively granted to the
commercial cinema members of the Federation. Commercial distributors are
authorised however by the associations to give them films which it considers
have little commercial potential (this definition is, by default, the practical
definition of the criteria for classifying films as art-house and experimental).
The majority of cinemas which are considered as art-house and experimental
by CICAE are subsidised. The Netherlands does not, however, possess a significant
number of commercial cinemas orientated towards a "specialist" programming
strategy distinct from the "mainstream".
The current results of the art-house and experimental market, already
positive as their market share is higher than the European average, can
probably still be expected to improve with the recent success of this type
of programming.
Role of the Public Authorities
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Taxes:
- VAT - Other taxes - Rights (musical) |
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Financial assistance:
- Total (in ECU Millions) |
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* unweighted average
** net receipts *** exhibitors pay one-third (0.375%) |
The Dutch government concentrates the subsidies which it gives to the
cinema sector on national film production. These are disbursed by the "Film
Fund", which grants no subsidies whatsoever to cinema exhibition.
The non-commercial art-houses have the feature of being subsidised,
not by the central government, but by the town councils on which they are
dependent. It is because of this that they are called "subsidised art-house".
The amount and the method of distribution of these subsidies is not available,
but it is known that the relevant funds are used for the purposes of renovation,
or to compensate for operating losses. This method tends to "municipalise"
certain cinemas, a phenomenon found in several other European countries,
particularly in France.
The operation of the Dutch commercial exhibition sector is therefore
exclusively privately funded, without any State subsidies, and with the
State only intervening to regulate commercial practices.
The NFC comprises the following members: the Association of Exhibitors,
the Association of Distributors, the Association of Producers and the Association
of Municipal Cinemas. All exhibitors and commercial distributors are part
of this national association.
Under the auspices of the federation, agreements are reached concerning
windows and relations between commercial distributors and municipal cinemas.
In addition, the federation occasionally intervenes even if the relationships
between distributors and exhibitors is governed on a private contractual
basis. The federation is the only statistical agency for the Netherlands
and is also responsible for the collection and dissemination of information
supplied by its members. The federation operates an arbitration office
as mentioned above.
Under the supervision of the federation, levies are collected for the
purpose of marketing, market research and transport of prints, and the
federation also collects royalties on sound recordings and compositions.
The Exhibitors Association also manages the setting of salary scales, and
the training of cinema technicians.